NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS
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resurrection appearance of Jesus to James, who had sworn at the Last Supper (in a story found in this Gospel, but not cited by any other authority) not to eat until he should see Jesus raised from the dead (fragment 5). The following are the quotations of the Gospel that survive in our ancient sources.
1
As it is also written in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, “The one who is amazed will rule, and the one who rules will find rest.” (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, 2, 9, 45)
2
If anyone accepts the Gospel ac cording to the Hebrews, there the Savior himself says, “Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me up to the great mountain, Tabor.” (Origen, Commentary on John, 2, 12)
3
It may appear that Matthew is named Levi in the Gospel of Luke. But in fact that is not so; it is Matthias, the one who replaced Judas, who is the same as Levi, known by two names. This is found in the Gospel according the He brews. (Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, 184, 9–10)
4
As we read in the Hebrew Gospel, the Lord said to his disciples: “You should never rejoice except when you look upon your brother in love.” (Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians, 5:4)
5
The Gospel that is called “accord ing to the Hebrews,” which I have recently translated into both Greek and Latin, a Gospel that Origen frequently used, records the following after the Savior’s resurrection: “But when the Lord had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went and appeared to
James. For James had taken a vow not to eat bread from the time he drank the cup of the Lord until he should see him raised from among those who sleep.” And soon after this it says, “The Lord said, ‘Bring a table and bread.’ ” And immediately it continues, “He took the bread and blessed it, broke it, gave it to James the Just, and said to him, ‘My brother, eat your bread. For the Son of Man is risen from among those who sleep.’ ” (Jerome, Illustrious Men, 2)
6
It is stated in the Gospel written in Hebrew, which the Nazareans read: “The entire fountain of the Holy Spirit will descend on him. For the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Later in that Gospel that we have mentioned we find the fol lowing written: “It came to pass that when the Lord came up from the water, the entire fountain of the Holy Spirit de scended and rested on him; and it said to him, ‘My Son, in all the prophets I have been expecting you to come, that I might rest on you. For you are my rest, you are my firstborn Son, who rules forever.’ ” (Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 11:1–3)
7
And in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which the Nazareans are accustomed to read, the following is de scribed as among the worst offenses: that someone should make the spirit of his brother sad. (Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel, 18:7)